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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Asteroid Sample Return Mission Selected

NASA announced the selection of the OSIRIS-REx near-Earth asteroid sample return for the next New Frontiers mission, beating out a Venus lander and a lunar sample return mission. Bruce Moomaw wrote about the OSIRIS-REx mission for this blog, and his description can be found here. There are also articles at Space News and at the Planetary Society's blog site. NASA press release site also includes a video (which I can't watch with my current slow internet while I'm traveling): http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/osiris-rex.html

With the two Japanese Hayabusa sample return missions (one completed and another in development), this means we'll have samples from three near-Earth asteroids. ESA is also considering its own near-Earth asteroid sample return, Marco Polo.

The press release itself is copied below. And congratulations to the winning team which submitted versions of this mission at least twice and I think perhaps three times.

May 25, 2011Dwayne C. BrownHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1726dwayne.c.brown@nasa.govRELEASE: 11-163NASA TO LAUNCH NEW SCIENCE MISSION TO ASTEROID IN 2016WASHINGTON -- NASA will launch a spacecraft to an asteroid in 2016 anduse a robotic arm to pluck samples that could better explain oursolar system's formation and how life began. The mission, calledOrigins-Spectral Interpretation-ResourceIdentification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, will be thefirst U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth."This is a critical step in meeting the objectives outlined byPresident Obama to extend our reach beyond low-Earth orbit andexplore into deep space," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden."It's robotic missions like these that will pave the way for futurehuman space missions to an asteroid and other deep spacedestinations."NASA selected OSIRIS-REx after reviewing three concept study reportsfor new scientific missions, which also included a sample returnmission from the far side of the moon and a mission to the surface ofVenus.Asteroids are leftovers formed from the cloud of gas and dust -- thesolar nebula -- that collapsed to form our sun and the planets about4.5 billion years ago. As such, they contain the original materialfrom the solar nebula, which can tell us about the conditions of oursolar system's birth.After traveling four years, OSIRIS-REx will approach the primitive,near Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 in 2020. Once within threemiles of the asteroid, the spacecraft will begin six months ofcomprehensive surface mapping. The science team then will pick alocation from where the spacecraft's arm will take a sample. Thespacecraft gradually will move closer to the site, and the arm willextend to collect more than two ounces of material for return toEarth in 2023. The mission, excluding the launch vehicle, is expectedto cost approximately $800 million.The sample will be stored in a capsule that will land at Utah's Testand Training Range in 2023. The capsule's design will be similar tothat used by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which returned the world'sfirst comet particles from comet Wild 2 in 2006. The OSIRIS-RExsample capsule will be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center inHouston. The material will be removed and delivered to a dedicatedresearch facility following stringent planetary protection protocol.Precise analysis will be performed that cannot be duplicated byspacecraft-based instruments.RQ36 is approximately 1,900 feet in diameter or roughly the size offive football fields. The asteroid, little altered over time, islikely to represent a snapshot of our solar system's infancy. Theasteroid also is likely rich in carbon, a key element in the organicmolecules necessary for life. Organic molecules have been found inmeteorite and comet samples, indicating some of life's ingredientscan be created in space. Scientists want to see if they also arepresent on RQ36."This asteroid is a time capsule from the birth of our solar systemand ushers in a new era of planetary exploration," said Jim Green,director, NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington. "Theknowledge from the mission also will help us to develop methods tobetter track the orbits of asteroids."The mission will accurately measure the "Yarkovsky effect" for thefirst time. The effect is a small push caused by the sun on anasteroid, as it absorbs sunlight and re-emits that energy as heat.The small push adds up over time, but it is uneven due to anasteroid's shape, wobble, surface composition and rotation. Forscientists to predict an Earth-approaching asteroid's path, they mustunderstand how the effect will change its orbit. OSIRIS-REx will helprefine RQ36's orbit to ascertain its trajectory and devise futurestrategies to mitigate possible Earth impacts from celestial objects.Michael Drake of the University of Arizona in Tucson is the mission'sprincipal investigator. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center inGreenbelt, Md., will provide overall mission management, systemsengineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin SpaceSystems in Denver will build the spacecraft. The OSIRIS-REx payloadincludes instruments from the University of Arizona, Goddard, ArizonaState University in Tempe and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA's AmesResearch Center at Moffett Field, Calif., the Langley Research Centerin Hampton Va., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,Calif., also are involved. The science team is composed of numerousresearchers from universities, private and government agencies.This is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. The first,New Horizons, was launched in 2006. It will fly by the Pluto-Charonsystem in July 2015, then target another Kuiper Belt object forstudy. The second mission, Juno, will launch in August to become thefirst spacecraft to orbit Jupiter from pole to pole and study thegiant planet's atmosphere and interior. NASA's Marshall Space FlightCenter in Huntsville, Ala., manages New Frontiers for the agency'sScience Mission Directorate in Washington.

About Me

You can contact me at futureplanets1@gmail.com with any questions or comments.
I have followed planetary exploration since I opened my newspaper in 1976 and saw the first photo from the surface of Mars. The challenges of conceiving and designing planetary missions has always fascinated me. I don't have any formal tie to NASA or planetary exploration (although I use data from NASA's Earth science missions in my professional work as an ecologist).
Corrections and additions always welcome.